The present invention relates to a child harness for use in transportation such as automobiles and airplanes where an adult would normally hold the child in his or her lap while the adult is restrained by the conventional seat belt normally provided in such vehicles. With the child harness of the present invention, additional restraint is provided for the infant or small child by attaching the harness to the conventional seat belt to provide the required safety for the infant in the event of an accident or sudden stop.
In the past, in order to safely transport infants and small children, as well as severely retarded individuals, it has been necessary to install fairly elaborate restraining seats in automobiles to protect such persons from injury in the event of accident or sudden stops. In normal air travel passenger cabins, however, even rudimentary child restraints for infants or other individuals who require physical support by a human during travel have not been available. Instead, the normal adult would make use of the conventional seat belt provided in a passenger airline seat and then physically hold the infant or child in his or her lap during flight time. Obviously, during air travel, and especially during take-off and landings as well as rough weather, such accommodations are inferior and are likely to be a source of injury to the infant or small child.
Parents charged with the care of infants and small children who must make use of automobiles or vehicles of others on short notice often are left without the usual child restraining seat and in such circumstances also must resort to holding the child in his or her lap during the period of travel in the automobile that is available. As in the case with airline travel, the absence of adequate safety restraint in such circumstances for the infant and small child is highly undesirable as the child's only source of protection is the attention and the ability of the adult holding the child to prevent injury to the child in the event of accident or sudden stops. Frequently, however, as is well known, the ability of the adult to protect itself is largely speculative even where such an adult is restrained by the conventional seat belt provided in automobile vehicles. The child, however, normally held on the lap of the adult, is clearly subject to great injury.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a unique child restraining harness that has means for cooperating with the conventional seat belt in automobiles as well as passenger airlines to minimize the possibility of injury to the child that would otherwise be possible in the absence of such restraint.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a body harness that fits over the shoulders of the infant and is adjustable in size by straps which may be provided with quick release clips. The rear face of the harness is provided with a quick release buckle or clip that is sized and proportioned to fit snugly over a conventional seat belt of standard width. For long trips, the buckle is attached to the harness material in a secure manner but in such a way as to permit the buckle to rotate relative to the harness to allow some freedom of movement to the infant or small child during long trips but which will adequately restrain the child from movement away from the adult who is restrained by the seat belt to which the child is attached by the quick release buckle in the event of a mishap.
The foregoing and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent as consideration is given to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: